Second chance to protect bay

The aftermath of superstorm Sandy poses serious challenges for the heavily impacted Barnegat Bay and its environs. But it also presents an opportunity to re-examine development in the 660-square-mile watershed, which contributes about $4 billion a year to New Jersey's economy, according to a new report.

The analysis compiled by the University of Delaware's Water Resources Agency for the Barnegat Bay Partnership comes as no surprise to those who recognize the value of the imperiled bay to the Jersey Shore and the entire region.

But it should be sobering reading to decision-makers who will have to contend with the reality that rebuilding every jot and tittle of what was damaged by the storm will only hasten Barnegat Bay's decline.

Those decision-makers include the state Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee, which began public hearings this week to discuss how Sandy rebuilding should proceed. The answer simply has to be: carefully, and with a sense that the continuing health of Barnegat Bay should be the primary guiding principle.

As Gerald Kauffman, director of the University of Delaware's Water Resources Agency, put it, "... along with rebuilding communities, the recovery has to embrace the value of those resources and include them."

In answering the question, "What is Barnegat Bay worth?" the report determined that it generates $4 billion in annual economic activity from recreation, water quality and water supply, fish and wildlife, and use of public parks. The report breaks down that figure in various ways, with some categories overlapping.

For example, across the watershed, fishing, hunting and birdwatching generate $110 million a year, the report states. On the water, the bay sees 11 million visitor-days of use every year, the authors calculated. Boating alone, according to the Marine Trades Association of New Jersey, generates $590 million to $740 million a year and employs between 5,000 and 6,300 people.

By making apt comparisons to the far larger but similarly situated and afflicted Chesapeake Bay, the study determined that reducing nutrient pollution to Barnegat Bay might boost real estate values by as much as 8 percent in waterside communities. If you own waterfront property, but can't swim in it because there are too many jellyfish, what is that property worth?

People are fond of saying that resources such as Barnegat Bay are "priceless." And while that is true in a metaphorical sense, it helps to put a dollar and cents figure on what is at stake.

Recovery from superstorm Sandy and the ecological recovery of Barnegat Bay cannot be uncoupled in any meaningful way. Rebuilding communities post-Sandy is important. Sandy was an expensive disaster. But its aftermath now offers a second chance to protect Barnegat Bay, a $4 billion treasure, and to do it right this time.

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Second chance to protect bay

The aftermath of superstorm Sandy poses serious challenges for the heavily impacted Barnegat Bay and its environs.

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